Chem at the CC? Yes, possibly. The CC has been impacted (overcrowded) the last few years because of the economy, but that has been easing up. We need to visit and talk to a counselor.

There is an admissions by exam route that requires extremely high SAT scores. I don't think he could qualify by that because his verbal scores are more like 88-92nd percentile, not off the charts. The other way to get in is to apply and use AP or SAT II to verify what he knows. That is more what I am processing here. It is a long shot because technically there is no clear cut "category" for kids like him. IOW, he could do very well on AP his junior year and yet the public universities still reject him on the grounds that he did not follow their mandated curriculum. It is hard to explain--Basically, the UC and Cal State system is not kind to independent homeschoolers, not because they are picking on homeschooling per se, but because they have no patience with all unaccredited high schools. The things is, if he is going to apply to 4 year schools, then he probably should also apply to private and out-of-state options. And I assume those schools will want a standard transcript (ugh) and test scores too. Another question. Would the ChemAdvantage give a strong lab experience? The reason we opted for a laid back exposure type approach is because I figured the CC could put together a much stronger lab experience than we could at home. Again, thank you for your thoughts. I know I am the newbie here and have not contributed to the boards, and am appreciative of you taking the time to respond.

Thank you, snowbeltmom, for your thoughts. He has done some programming via robotics and also hanging out with a neighbor who works for MicroSoft. But he tends to avoid it on the robotics team--prefers to be the one designing and building. He is very much a hands-on kid. That is one of the reason we have prioritized the job because he loves to work with his hands. I think he would do well with a formal programming class, but I have neither suggested nor encouraged it because he has plenty already to keep him busy. Do you think a programming class at the high school level should be high priority? Or is exposure enough? Do you think doing a second year of chemistry would be better than proceeding with biology? My thought was to do biology next year (at home), and then let him start with either chem or bio at the CC. The issue with the CA universities is that for most there is not a direct path for admissions though they occasionally do take independent homeschooled kids IF they have great test scores. I feel like he could have great test scores his senior year. But his junior year? Not so much. Or maybe I am missing something? It just feels like the admissions process is based on the first 3 years of high school and he really needs the 4th.

I am curious, too. I was thinking both a world history text and an American history text, do part of both over a 2 year period. But of course I am not sure which texts. My teen son loves SWB's books. Loves them. Mainly because he digs the political history but the social history not at all.

Hi All, I am a long time lurker, first time poster, who has enjoyed searching the boards over the years when researching curriculum. I have a more general question that has prompted me to register. We are independent homeschoolers in CA, meaning the UC's and Cal States do not have a direct path for admission. We have long planned for the kids to rely on the local community college for the first 2 years, then transfer to a state school. This made sense because (1)we have a high quality CC near us and (2) finances. (Yes, I know people say private colleges can be cheaper, but we have some specific circumstances that will make the FAFSA wonky for us.) Oldest son is 16, finishing sophomore year, pretty adamant about wanting to major in engineering. In the past few weeks, he is also talking about going away to school--He is an independent kid and this would be good for him. The problem is that I am feeling a little stuck. He is a bright kid when it comes to math and science, and above average in the humanities. He has sort of followed a typical high school track, sort of not. He likes to work independently. He also does not like to be rushed. If he is introduced to a concept, it is better to let it percolate and then come back to it. This was another reason I figured the CC route would be good for him as he is not likely to be ready for AP or the like by the end of 11th grade. So far he has done AoPS for math (will finish Intermediate Algebra probably in July), a modified WTM great books approach for English and history, science with Hewitt's Conceptual Physics and Caveman Chemistry, foreign language is outsourced. He also does robotics--founded a team this year with some friends after 4 years of FLL. He worked with the same nonprofit for several years now fixing bikes. The more nontraditional part of his background is that since the age of 12 he has worked approximately 1 day/week with a close family friend, and has strong building and woodworking skills, also welding skills (basic), car mechanic (basic), and plumbing (basic). Yes, I know the science is weak for a STEM kid, but our plan was for him to do the intro classes at the CC where he could also do the labs. I know 2 students IRL who recently were able to get into UC or Cal State engineering programs as independent homeschoolers, but both had at least 3 AP exams to put on the application. Should we go the AP route so he has the option of trying for a state university? If so, which ones would be best? He is a passable writer, not excellent, and thus the humanities one (with the exception of maybe psychology) make me nervous. He won't be ready for calculus. Statistics would interest him, and might make sense because it would be a good intro if he were to do calculus based statistics later. Thoughts?